Darrow Farr’s debut novel, The Bombshell, is unlike anything I’ve ever read. Set in Corsica, 1993, 17-year-old Séverine Guimard—the pampered daughter of a French politician—is counting down the days until graduation. Séverine knows she is destined for bigger things and dreams of becoming a famous actress. One evening, she is kidnapped by Soffiu di Libertà, a militant terrorist group who blindfold and drive her to a remote location deep in the island’s wilderness where she is shoved into a small closet and held for ransom.
The trio, however, are amateurs and Séverine’s kidnapping is their first major action in their fight for Corsican independence. When negotiations don’t go as planned, Séverine uses her charms to win over her captors: Bruno, the intellectual leader; Tittu, the gentle university student who has a penchant for farming; and Petru, the miserable yet unflappable sous-chef. Exposed to their politics, Bruno gives Séverine books on Fanton, Che Guevara, Mao, and Marx, leading to her becoming radicalised into their cause. Soon, Séverine becomes the face of a radical movement culminating in a summer of passion and terror.
Séverine is an interesting protagonist. She is beautiful and naïve, sarcastic and judgemental, and prone to mood swings. She is simultaneously self-assured and insecure, but has had sex weaponised against her by her peers, in addition to sexual advances from her father’s boss, who happens to be the Minister of the Interior, which has taught her how to use her natural charms to manipulate men. Séverine comes across as narcissistic in the way only a teenage girl can, but I enjoy reading characters who are strongly drawn towards a calling and have the confidence to go after it.
While Farr dances around the truth of Séverine’s motives as the character uses the attacks for Corsican revolution to target those who have wronged her, she occasionally demonstrates Séverine’s character growth. “She’d always known abstractedly that people starved, that girls were mutilated, that people were being slaughtered in places like Bosnia, but it never occurred to her that that world overlapped in any way with hers.” Farr writes. “She’d never realised that she lived in injustice, that she might even be contributing to it.”
The Bombshell has funny prose throughout which highlights Séverine’s often casual attitude. For example: “[Bruno] could have become a politician instead of a middle school history teacher and part-time terrorist.” The book has themes of political revolution, terrorism and violence, which create an interesting dialogue, but are quite tame and are secondary to the book’s central themes of youthful idealism, young love, and the transience of celebrity. Farr also explores a lot of grey areas, including terrorists as protagonists, the age difference between Séverine (who turns 18 during) and Bruno, acts of violence for a good cause, the blurred lines between whether a teenager is confusing sexual intensity for love or perhaps just safety.
The narrative does grow boring at times and there’s some lack of character development spread across all characters. It doesn’t help that’s a lack of emotional connection behind Soffiu di Libertà’s actions and why they believed they were right. There was also a lot of tell not show for Séverine’s character around the power of her beauty and sexuality around men. These things leave a hollow feeling but the last chapters—set 20 years later—do try to create a more fulfilling ending. Nevertheless, the characters remain interesting and their journey sustained my curiosity.
Farr’s novel is clearly inspired by the fight for Corsican independence (which is still ongoing) and the 1974 kidnapping of Patty Hearst by the Symbionese Liberation Army. Hearst said in a tape-recorded message that, after being offered the choice of being released or the chance to join the underground terrorist group, she chose to stay and fight for “the freedom of oppressed people.” She was eventually arrested for crimes committed with members of the group and later said that she was raped and coerced into joining them. Her case, however, remains highly controversial regarding what actually happened and whether Hearst was telling the truth. Those familiar with Hearst may find this book to be in poor taste, but there is no denying that it’s an extremely unique story to frame a bourgeoisie teenage girl’s descent into first love and political radicalisation. Séverine’s story reflects the ambiguity of Hearst’s, which might be the book’s greatest strength and greatest weakness.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy. The Bombshell by Darrow Farr will be released on 5th June.
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